See text of this poster at: http://www.slideshare.net/NASIG/correcting-accidentals-13238333 Using an Availability Study to Identify and Resolve the "Suspensions" Impeding Access to Electronic Journals - Poster Session Sanjeet Mann - University of Redlands

1. Correcting Accidentals: Using an Availability Study to Identify and
Resolve the “Suspensions” Impeding Access to Electronic Resources
Sanjeet Mann , University of Redlands
How often do e-resource errors occur? Why do e-resource errors occur? How can librarians fix them?
•Edit proxy server settings or adjust link resolver knowledge base to eliminate
Online scholarly research proxy errors
requires interoperability
between multiple systems •Contact database technical support staff to correct source metadata errors
operated by vendors, •Customize local holdings in knowledge base or contact link resolver technical
libraries and other support to correct holdings errors
organizations. Not
surprisingly, errors can •Edit link resolver interfaces to include ISSN and title searching of library
occur at any juncture catalogs
between the major •Configure link resolver to prevent circular linking; notify target full text
components: a library providers of concatenated records and search algorithm issues that may
proxy server, source cause additional loops
database, link resolver and
knowledgebase, and target •Customize ILL forms to parse OpenURL metadata correctly for each item
resources. type
•Contact ILL vendor to ensure support for extended character sets, particularly
For this study, I tracked six in non-Western languages
categories of error. While it
is difficult to precisely •Learn about and advocate for initiatives such as NISO’s IOTA (Improving
ascribe a cause to each OpenURL Through Analytics)
issue, the most common
problems seemed to
involve:
Redlands next steps
1) Forms and translation
•Edit WAM forward table to fix proxy errors
rules connecting Serials
Solutions to ILLIAD •Adjust Serials Solutions holdings
2) Problems with the •Contact database provider, Serials Solutions and OCLC support staff to
OpenURL title, date and coordinate resolution of issues identified in this study
author fields
3) Less than optimal •Customize ILLIAD forms as part of library-wide website redesign
selection of holdings in •Continue ongoing usability testing of all aspects of library web presence
Serials Solutions (LibGuides, catalog, Serials Solutions, ILLIAD)
As Wakimoto et al. (2006) noted, most students expect immediate, full text •Discuss how best to equip students and faculty to successfully obtain full text
Trainor and Price (2010)
access to electronic resources. However, in my study of e-resource note the impact of e- (instruction, online tutorials, public Serials Solutions notes?)
availability at the University of Redlands, only about 1 in 4 items was actually resource errors, which can •Continue to build collaborative relationships with subscription agents and
available. About 1 in 3 items had to be requested through ILL. 40% of items discourage users from database, link resolver, ILL vendors. Openness and enthusiasm for working
using library resources for together among all parties are crucial to improving the electronic research
produced an error with the potential to confuse a student or delay fulfillment research in the future.
of an interlibrary loan. experience for library users.
Procedure •ILL is no longer an “acquisition error”
(Ciliberti et al. 1998) You can do it!
•Many students use simple keyword
searches and don’t go beyond the first Before I embarked on this study I pilot tested a
result page sample of 100 items. An availability “micro
•OpenURL targets must lead directly to
full text (PDF or HTML is ok)
study” of this size or smaller can complement
•Desirability of a resource is inversely your ongoing usability testing and help you
proportional to the time required to prioritize troubleshooting efforts. Try running a
obtain it few searches in an A&I database and document
the results in a spreadsheet. This is a
I started with the availability method as I derived 4 searches in each of 10 …ran the searches in an A&I I tested the first 10 items from Errors needed to be significant enough to stop a fascinating task to delegate to well trained staff
developed by Buckland (1975), Kantor …but modified it to account for disciplines from actual student database, and recorded data in a each search for local print or student (or an ILL direct request). This required or student workers – everyone loves a good
(1976), Nisonger (2009) and others… student search behavior observed research topics documented in our survey spreadsheet (available at electronic availability, and for the a judgment call in my simulated study. Next time mystery!
in local usability tests. reference statistics tool… http://goo.gl/606us) presence of an error. I’ll use actual students…
Works Cited Acknowledgements Contact
Nisonger, Thomas E. (2009). A Simulated Electronic Availability Study of Serial Articles Through
Buckland, Michael (1975). Book Availability and the Library User. New York: Pergamon. a University Library Web Page. College & Research Libraries 70 (5): 422-446. Sanjeet Mann is Electronic Resources and Arts
Ciliberti, Anne, et al. (1998). Empty Handed? A Material Availability Study and Transaction
This presentation would not be possible without the generous support of Armacost
Trainor, Cindi, and Jason Price (2010). Rethinking Library Linking: Breathing New Life into
Log Analysis Verification. Journal of Academic Librarianship 24 (4): 282-289. Library and the College of Arts Dean’s Office. Catherine Walker and Osman Trad Librarian at the University of Redlands.
OpenURL. Chicago: American Library Association.
Kantor, Paul (1976). Availability Analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Wakimoto, Jina Choi, et al. (2006). The Myths and Realities of SFX in Academic Libraries. of ITS provided timely assistance with printing. Email: sanjeet_mann@redlands.edu
Science 27 (5): 311-320. Journal of Academic Librarianship 32 (2): 127-136.